A Walk Through Hell And Across The Seas
by crestaired
Summary: Nico, the new kid at school has a crush on the school's most popular swimmer, Percy. But is Percy gay for him? Nico's right about to go on a wild ride filled with friendship, romance and just possibly, heartbreak.
1. Love At First Sight

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Percy Jackson characters but all hail Rick Riordon who created the awesomeness that is Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo. If I did, I wouldn't have to curl up in my sock drawer and sob every night.

**A/N: **First try at writing a story. I love the Nico/Percy pairing so here it is. My first chapter! Read and review please? :) Nico is 14 in this story and Percy is 16. I have officially made Nico 14 after all the debating in my head.

Rated M for the homosexuality theme just in case.

* * *

**_{True love doesn't come easy. It's a walk through hell and across the seas.}_**

**Chapter 1: Love At First Sight**

_"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love." − Albert Einstein_

§

"Honey, time to get ready for school! You don't want to be late on your first day!", called Persephone from the kitchen. "Breakfast is on the table!"

Persephone walked into his room and pulled the blinds open. Sunlight seeped through the window, illuminating the dark and gloomy room of the teen.

"C'mon, you're gonna be late~" said Persephone in a sing-song voice.

She ripped the covers off her step-son.

The homely smell of bacons and eggs wafted into his bedroom. He could hear his sisters running along the hallway of their home, screaming at each other. One had taken something from the other. Hairbands? An earring? He couldn't make out what his sisters were fighting about so early in the morning. They were late, apparently. They were supposed to be in school by now.

All that noise they were making was worse than his alarm clock, which he had conveniently pressed the snooze button over and over again, over the last half hour.

"Son!", his father yelled at him from the dining area. That was pretty much his cue to wake up. He wouldn't want to make his father angry so early in the morning.

Nico di Angelo opened and rubbed his eyes, stretched and groaned.

It was the first day of school after summer vacation and Nico was _so_ not looking forward to going back to school.

§

Nico stood in front of his new school. 'Welcome to Jupiter Olympus High', read the sign that hung in front of the school grounds. A gust of wind blew into his face and swept the fallen leaves on the ground across his feet. He could hear the birds in the trees, a couple of squirrels scampering up and down the tree trunks. Summer was over but the weather was still bright and sunny. A little too windy for his liking, but the temperature was just right. Not too hot, not too cold either. It should be illegal to have to attend school on such a beautiful morning. You might think Nico wanted to head out to the beach and surf the waves, or maybe, if he were some delinquent, he'd smoke a joint or two in the alley behind a dump with his friends.

But no. All Nico wanted to do was head home and hide in his room. Like he did for the entire summer. It was unhealthy to lack friends in one's life.

_Might as well make the best of whatever time I have here, since I'd probably be kicked out again soon, _thought Nico. He sighed, and thought back to his horrid time his last two schools. He hated school.

Nico was always a troubled boy, emotional and alone. His mother Maria di Angelo had died in a freak lightning accident when he was a toddler and had left Nico and his older sister Bianca di Angelo with Hades, their father. His father then remarried another woman, Persephone, who already had a daughter named Hazel. They moved in with Nico and his family when he was still a kid, and Persephone had been the motherly figure in his life ever since. He missed his mom, but he loved his family and step-sibling too.

His step-mom and grandmother, Demeter, were pretty cool though. They had a green thumb and could grow flowers, fruits and vegetables like magic. It was crazy, the size of the fruits and flowers they could grow. Nico had always suspected that they used some kind of special fertilizer, but their produce were 100% organic. They owned a local green groceries store, selling home-grown stuff.

His father on the other hand, owned a funeral company...

Nico frowned at that thought. His family was, you could say, very wealthy, since what Hades owned was considered the biggest casket company in the state of New York. However, it was the type of business their family was associated with that gave Nico a whole load of trouble at school. Nico, being a troubled 14-year-old teen, mainly kept to himself in school. He had lunch on his own, sat by himself during lab lessons. He was a loner. Everyone stayed out of his way too. His coal, black eyes and the way he could blend into the shadows, often creeping up behind people unnoticed, were considered eerie and freaky, and it scared everyone off.

Due to his father's reputation in the neighbourhood, however, certain kids at school still thought that it would be fun to make a joke out of him and his family. To make matters worse, Nico wasn't your normal average male teen. Oh he had a body full of raging teen hormones, alright. But he wasn't getting all hot and bothered thinking about girls. Nico was gay. Put the two together and you get a typical victim of bullying.

At his last two schools, Nico had gotten into fights with other guys, who had called him a fag, and had beaten them up quite badly. One was even admitted to the hospital. The other kids at school saw him as a dangerous freak. He was expelled after that as the school could no longer tolerate his anti-social behaviour that seemed to threaten and scare everyone within a one metre radius.

Nico hated himself. He hated his sexuality. He wished that he could hide it away and lock it up, and not embrace this side of him. His father was disappointed that his son had turned out like that, and the two did not talk much. Hades expressed his disappointment by shaking his head every time Nico came down for dinner with a dark and brooding look. He was certainly not complaining. Every time Hades tried to give Nico 'the talk', Nico would cringe and feel his face turn red, while his sisters snickered in a corner.

His step-mom, Persephone, on the other hand, was kind and encouraging, often counselling him and giving him words of advice, even if Nico was still a closeted homosexual and had not even had his first kiss yet. No matter who he was, she would always love and accept him.

§

Standing outside his new school, Nico couldn't help but wonder how long he would last in this alienated place. It was supposed to be a school where they had a zero-tolerance bullying policy, which meant no bullying allowed in the school grounds. Students would be severely punished if they misbehaved or engaged in any bullying activities. His sisters attended this school and they were seniors on the archery team. Nico was 14, and he was just starting sophomore year.

Nico walked into the cafeteria and saw the segregation between the geeks and jocks. _Great, just what I need. Another school full of judgemental people, _thought Nico bitterly. He was going to be all alone. He didn't want to find his sisters. He didn't want to feel like a burden to them, and be called the little brother who followed his popular sisters around. He didn't want to feel desperate.

Nico looked at his timetable. One good thing about the change in school was the new school timetable. Classes started later in Jupiter Olympus High, at 10am. Everyone had the option of having breakfast at home or in school. This was for the benefit of the jocks and cheerleaders, who came early in the morning to train. They needed a good shower and breakfast after that. Why the special treatment? Jupiter Olympus High's niche sport was swimming and the swimmers all had the privileges. The other athletes were just free riders.

Nico looked around the cafeteria and saw everyone busy chatting with their friends and having breakfast. He sighed. He was the new kid again. He hated starting at a new school, especially right after the holidays. Everyone would still be in holiday mood, chatting, talking and discussing their holidays and summer flings. Nico had no one to talk to, and even if he did, he wouldn't have anything to say, since he spent his whole summer hiding in his room, writing in his diary. Yes, he kept a diary. It seemed like a very gay thing to do, keeping a diary, and the fact that Nico was really gay did not help. Nico liked writing though. It helped him take his mind of things, pluck the unhappy memories out and store them in a book, maybe taking occasional looks at past entries, months down the road, and bitterly laughing and cringing at himself for how childish he sounded.

Nico snapped back to reality and looked around the cafeteria once more. He already had breakfast at home, so he decided to get a chocolate milk to drink in a corner so he wouldn't stick out so much like a sore thumb. While he was queuing for his milk, the swimmers walked into the cafeteria. They had just finished their training session with the cheerleaders and wanted breakfast. Everyone was making a commotion (not surprising since the swimmers were the most popular people in school) and Nico didn't want to be a part of it.

Nico generally steered clear of the popular people. His sisters were popular though. They were pretty and no one bullied them or made fun of their background. But they also weren't screwed up like him. That was probably why they were successfully at the top of the school hierarchy.

Well actually, anyone who was associated with sports was considered popular. But Nico's sisters carried themselves with confidence, unlike him. Nico was an introvert. He didn't do people. He didn't mix well with them. He'd probably be laughed at if he tried out for any sports activities. Not that he wasn't any good at sports. He just wasn't a people person. End of story.

Nico was just lost in his thoughts when he heard a guy's voice across the cafeteria.

"Hey Grover, man! What have you been up to?"

"Hey buddy!" the guy named Grover called out.

"Jason! I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Wassup, bro?" yelled Jason, who slammed his friend a hi-five.

"Has anyone seen Annabeth?" asked the guy.

Nico rolled his eyes. Who did he think he was? Did his father own the place? Shouting in the cafeteria like no one's business and drawing all the attention to himself. But then Nico caught a glimpse of the guy's back view. He was wearing his swimming trunks, with a towel draped around his shoulder. His body looks well toned and that ass...

_Snap out of it, Nico. You don't want to get into trouble on your first day here,_ he mentally scolded himself.

In any case, Nico thought, the guy sounded like the most popular guy at school. Either he was very fake, acting like the king of the school and going around showing off to the world how many friends he had, or he was just really, really friendly, for he seemed to know everyone at school.

Nico got his chocolate milk and wanted to get out of the cafeteria as fast as possible. Wrong move. He turned, slipped over a puddle of water on the floor (created by those swimmers, I must add), fell and spilled his chocolate milk on a girl, who to Nico's dismay, happened to be a cheerleader. What a great way to kick start his first day at his new school. Nico looked around wildly. He so did not want his sisters around to witness how he was such a klutz. Thankfully, they were nowhere to be seen in the cafeteria. They were probably taking a shower after their archery training, and gossiping while they were at it.

"OH MY GODS, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" screamed the girl. Silena Beauregard, head cheerleader with light ash brown hair looked down at Nico. Nico wanted to get up and apologize, but he was having trouble standing up.

"I'm really sorry," muttered Nico, not daring to look up at the girl.

"Class hasn't even started and you spilled chocolate milk on my uniform!" wailed Silena.

"It's alright, Selina, you can just change into another. I know you have a lot of spares in your locker in case of any impromptu make out session in the locker-room", said a guy's voice. He sounded like he was smirking.

A chorus of giggles emerged from the group of cheerleaders.

"Oh shut up," said Silena.

The boy looked down and said, "Sorry about that. My friend can be quite... the princess. She'll be fine. She may sound like a total bitch when she's screaming, but she's actually really nice. Are you alright though?"

Nico looked up and saw the guy for the first time. Black hair that looked like waves and bright emerald green eyes pierced through his. Nico gasped and blushed.

The green-eyed guy stuck his arm out for Nico, who took his hand. The boy pulled him up.

A jolt of electricity shot through Nico's arm and down his groin. A tingle ran down his spine. His eyes were locked onto those green beauties, filled with instant lust. Staring right in his face had got to be the hottest and prettiest guy Nico had seen in his life.

"Hi, I'm Percy, by the way. Percy Jackson."

* * *

**A/N: **So what do you guys think? Hoped you liked it! Do review and give me suggestions and ideas if you have, how you want things to play out or if you have any specific character you would like to see in the story. I have a rough idea on how I want the story to go, but I'm really just writing when I feel inspired now. Exams are starting in a week so I will really, really start more on this story after that. I'll still do the next chapter or 2 when I have some time, so stick with me? **Do review!** :)

***UPDATE #1* **I did a chapter update after seeing the review I got for the first chapter. Totally made my morning teehee. I wrote the original chapter in a rush because I was just taking a break from exam revision and I suddenly felt like writing a fic so I did, made an account and uploaded it. I know it was kinda short, so I added more stuff that I wanted in this chapter, but didn't include when I was speed-typing my idea yesterday. So there you go, enjoy reading!

***UPDATE #2* **Changed the head cheerleader to Silena due to a review by coralie14. Was deciding between Clarisse and Silena when I was writing this, but yeah you're right. I can't picture Clarisse as a cheerleader too. I just wanted to give her a role to play in the story. Didn't like her character in the books, but the Sea of Monsters movie made me change my opinion about her. Maybe I'll insert her into the story somewhere along the way. And don't worry, Silena is a nice person in this story. :3

***UPDATE #3* **Ahhhh. Thanks guest (whoever you are) for pointing out my horrible typo. I've corrected it. :) If anyone sees any grammar mistakes or typos, do tell me? I proofread my work a lot of times but I might miss out a few mistakes here and there.. And I don't have a beta reader. :( Anyone interested in being a beta reader for this story? :)

c.


	2. A New Beginning

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Percy Jackson characters but all hail Rick Riordon who created the awesomeness that is Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo. If I did, I wouldn't have to curl up in my sock drawer and sob every night.

**A/N: **Hello! I'm back with chapter 2! I keep trying to resist writing because I have to study for exams but it's not working so.. Boohoo. But then again, I really don't want to rush the writing.. That's what's taking me so long. So, thanks for waiting and not giving up on the story! Here's a slightly longer chapter for everyone! Hope you like it. :)

Also, a big thank you to the people who reviewed, Haruna Galaxy de Yuy, coralie14, FallenxLinkin and Kyuubigurl74. It really made my mornings when I check my account and see a new review. :D Here's a cookie for y'all haha (::).

Once again, if anyone sees a typo, or grammar mistakes and what not, please comment and tell me about it so I can correct it. :)

* * *

**_{True love doesn't come easy. It's a walk through hell and across the seas.}_**

**Chapter 2: A New Beginning**

_"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."_ − Dr. Seuss

§

"Hi, I'm Percy, by the way. Percy Jackson."

Nico couldn't breathe, let alone move. His heart was pounding in his chest, causing a bloodrush to his head. He felt lightheaded and woozy. How the fuck can one guy have such an effect on him? He stared at Percy, dumbfounded. _Okay_, he thought. _I have two choices here. One, gawk at the guy stupidly with my mouth open and act like a fag, or two, walk away like a normal guy would and avoid this dude for the rest of the school semester._

Nico obviously chose the latter. This was his third high school so far. He didn't want to screw things up again, get into fights with people he didn't even know, and get expelled. He didn't want to be an even bigger disappointment to his father than he already was. His parents knew the reason why Nico was constantly picked on, but what could they do to help? It wasn't like they could suppress his sexuality, thought Nico felt that if his father had his way, he would lock him up in a basement and torture the fag out of him.

"Uh," replied Nico stupidly. He didn't know what else to say.

"Uhm, can I let go now?" Percy asked, looking down at his arm.

Nico jumped and immediately let go of Percy's hand and blushed.

"Uh sorry," he muttered. "And thanks for pulling me up."

"Anytime," smiled Percy.

"Here, let me help you with your books", he said, bending down to pick up the fallen books on the ground for Nico.

"No, it's oka−"

Nico's hand brushed past Percy's as he bent down to retrieve is textbooks. He blushed even harder."Uh, right, thanks."

The school bell rang and everyone started walking out of the cafeteria.

"Hey, Perce, we'll meet you at the lab okay?" yelled Grover, near the cafeteria exit.

"Yeah I'll catch up with you guys later!" Percy called back to his friends.

Percy turned back to Nico and stared at the younger guy. His dark, black, manic eyes bored right into Percy and Percy felt a shudder go down his spine. He didn't know if it was fear or attraction, but one thing was for sure, he found this new guy intriguing. He decided to befriend Nico.

"So, what's your name again?" Percy asked.

Nico swore under his breath. He needed to leave. Now. Before he got a hard on just by looking at Percy.

"I'm Nico," he answered slowly, not daring to say too much in case his tone and attitude gave away how desperate he was into the guy.

Nico stretched his arms out to take his books from Percy. "Uh, thanks again... For just now. Tell your friend I'm sorry."

As Nico took his books and files from Percy, his silver skull ring, a family heirloom (his father owns a funeral company) glistened under the sunlight, reflecting it into Percy's eyes.

"Hey, the symbol on your ring looks fam−" said Percy, but was cut off by Nico.

"Look I've really got to get to class. It's my first day here and I really don't want to be late. It'll leave a bad impression," Nico said quickly.

Nico walked out of the cafeteria as fast as he could, not daring to look back. Great way to start his first day at school. Spilling chocolate milk on the head-cheerleader and meeting what seems to be the most popular and best looking guy at school. Nico was sure he had embarrassed himself thoroughly. He heaved a sigh. It was impossible for anything to happen between them. Percy was way out of Nico's league. He was hot, popular, good looking, and probably straight too. He might even already have a girlfriend. Nico laughed bitterly to himself. He sounded really shallow, infatuated with a guy, just for his looks and body.

On the bright side, he thought, he was starting sophomore year, while Percy was a senior. At least they wouldn't have the same classes. That would help Nico avoid Percy. He had to maintain his cool if he wanted to remain in this school for more than a week. He didn't know how tolerating people here were towards.. He cringed at the thought of that word. Sometimes, he really hated himself. The gods hated him. Why else would they have given him such a sexuality? It wasn't his choice to live like that. Nico could hear the gods above mocking him, laughing at his every embarrassing encounter with guys he had his eye on. _Okay. I'm not screwing this up. I'll just stay away from Percy and my attraction to him will die down, _Nico told himself.

Nico stood at the hallway in a daze, unaware that class had already started and he was late. When he finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his watched, he yelped.

"Oh fuck I'm late for class!"

He ran down the hallway, not even sure of the location of his classroom. He continued running aimlessly up and down the corridor, peering into each class through the little glass panel on the door. Students who sat at the front row turned and stared at him with a strange expression. Nico didn't dare to knock on the classroom doors in fear of interrupting the class. Suddenly, one of the classroom doors flew open, giving Nico a shock and causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Mr di Angelo, would you so kindly join us for our History class today?" called a teacher from behind the door.

Right. History. First period. He should have checked out the school map before he started class this morning, or maybe even memorize it. And wow, this teacher was good. She knew his name even before he had his first lesson with her. She must have gotten his name from the class register and figured that the idiot running around outside the classrooms was the new student.

Nico looked apologetic. "Uh. Sorry, Miss…"

"Athena. You can call me Athena. I'm the history teacher in the school. Why don't you grab a seat at the back of the class? We're doing a Greek mythology module now and the class is learning about the war between the Greek and Romans."

Nico hurried to an empty sit at the back of the class, where he got a good look at his new teacher. Athena had stormy grey eyes and dark black hair. She looked strict and serious, yet approachable. He wondered if History classes were going to be any fun with this teacher at all. Nico used to be a huge fan of Mythomagic, a Greek mythology collectible card and figurine game. But that was playing a game involving Greek stuff. Studying? That was a different thing altogether. Nico sighed. He wished he had a friend to talk to in the new school. Classes were going to _so_ boring. Nico propped his elbow on the table, head leaning on his palm as he stared at Athena, trying to pay as much attention as possible to her teaching.

§

Percy frowned. That skull ring looked familiar. He must have seen it somewhere before. And what was up with the antisocial attitude? Percy was generally a friendly person, and it was easy for him to tell if anyone was an introvert. And Percy didn't like it when someone wasn't his friend. He liked to befriend everyone new at this school. That was what made him popular. His social status didn't come from the fact that he was on the school's swim team (well, maybe it contributed to it), but it was because Percy was nice to everyone, popular or not, that made him popular with everyone in school.

Percy walked into the Biology lab.

"Percy m'boy, you're late," said the biology teacher, Mr Brunner.

"Sorry sir," said Percy, grinning. "Was helping a friend out."

Well, Nico was more of an acquaintance, thought Percy, since he hadn't had the chance to befriend the guy.

Mr Brunner cleared his throat. "Right, grab a light microscope and take a seat beside your lab partners. We're starting our project on breeding fishes for this semester. We'll be breeding striped and non-striped fishes, as part of the course to learn more about genetics."

Upon hearing this, Grover sent Percy flying kisses from across the class. "Lab partner, over here!"

Grover waved his arms around the air.

Annabeth slapped Grover on the shoulder. "Knock it off will you? We're supposed to be making sure the fishes mate."

"Yeah yeah, I'd rather cook them over the flame and eat them," replied Grover.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

Percy made his way over to his two best friends. He had not seen them for the entire summer and he missed their company dearly.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," smiled Annabeth. "How was your summer?"

"Any good looking girls you would like to tell me about?" asked Grover, wagging his eyebrows.

"Oh shut up, you know I don't do summer flings," Percy said.

Grover snorted. "Yeah, and you never had a girlfriend before. Are you sure you're straight man?"

"How's Juniper? I haven't seen her today," Percy said, changing the subject. He hated it when people asked why he didn't have a girlfriend. He just hadn't met anyone he really liked yet.

"Oh she's good!" replied Grover. He dropped his voice and in an almost inaudible whisper, he muttered to Percy, "and even better in bed."

"Enough with the chit-chat!" called Mr Brunner from the front of the class.

"C'mon, fish first. I need to maintain my A at biology. It's the only subject where words don't fly off the pages and float around my head," said Percy.

Percy was dyslexic, which meant that he couldn't read properly. His failed basically all his English and History subjects. Anything that involved reading and writing was so not his thing. But Percy did surprisingly well at Biology. It was the only subject he found interesting, especially the marine biology aspects of the subject. He would study marine biology in college if all else fails, he always told himself. Or maybe a Zoologist or a Veterinarian that specialized in taking care of sea animals.

The three best friends continued to work on trying to get their fishes to mate in the tiny petri dish.

After an hour, Grover started to complain.

"This is not working. I've been trying to push Miss Black Strips to Mr Plain and Boring to get them to mate over the last hour. This is boring."

"You need patience okay," Percy chided.

"Speaking of patience, you were pretty helpful this morning eh? Helping that new guy out," said Grover.

Percy looked up from his microscope. "Yeah, I like being helpful. The guy fell, so I offered my hand," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Looks kinda creepy if you ask me. His eyes. They're so black they remind me of a bottomless pit", Grover commented.

"Hey, I'm gonna befriend the guy okay, no weird remarks. I like making friends with everyone in school."

"Yeah right Seaweed Brain, you can introduce us to your new friend at lunch. Just focus on the fishes first," said Annabeth, poking her fishes with a pair of tweezers.

"Oh, by the way, where were you this morning?" asked Grover.

"Uhm, there was an emergency sports council meeting with Ares about the tryouts tomorrow to recruit new students into the sports teams."

Annabeth was head of the school's sport council, and she was in charge of the relations Jupiter Olympus High had with other schools in the district, as well as planning sports events and other strategic plans to help the school keep up their reputation for having the best sports teams in the area. Ares was the school's track and field coach, and the teacher in charge of the sports council.

"Miss Chase, if you're done talking, could you turn to the front please. Class is about the end in five minutes and I just want to give the class further instructions on this assignment."

"Right, sorry, Mr Brunner."

"Okay, so I know many of you have difficulties in getting the fishes to mate. Well, the good news is that the lab will be supplying you with fish eggs for you to breed," said Mr Brunner happily to the whole class.

Everyone stared at their Biology teacher who had just made them sit through a torturous two hours, breeding fishes that were so tiny, it was hard to see them.

"Then what'cha made us babysit the fishes for the last two hour for?!" whined Grover.

"It was the first day back. I thought it would be good to give everyone something easy to do," replied Mr Brunner."

That shut Grover up and he stopped complaining.

§

The bell rang and everyone packed their stuff and rushed out of the class for lunch. History class for two hours straight was no joke. Nico yawned and stretch. He had managed to stay awake for the whole class, and surprisingly, the lesson had been pretty interesting. He had just learn that the Greek and Roman gods were actually the same people, but in different forms. During the war between the Greek and the Romans, and what Nico would like to call, all the other evil stuff going on, the gods were themselves are incapacitated as their Greek and Roman aspects battle for supremacy, leaving their children, the demigods, to fight off the monsters.

_Wow. Cool subject, but so many names and so much to remember. Exams had better be open-book._

Nico grabbed his books and headed out of the class. Time for lunch. He was going to grab a sandwich and find himself a hiding spot, where no one can see him.

Just as Nico was heading to the cafeteria, Percy and his friends walked out of the Biology lab.

"I'm starving," said Grover.

"You had two plates of scrambled eggs and sausages after training this morning, how can you still be hungry? It's only been like what, two hours?" Jason called from behind.

"Hey Jason," Percy and Annabeth greeted their friend in unison.

"'Hey guys, what's new?" Jason nodded his head towards Percy and Annabeth, looking all serious.

"I'm a growing boy," came Grover's response.

Jason snorted.

"What's new is Percy's new fascination," Grover told Jason, filling him in on how Percy had spent half the lab lesson going on about his plans to make friends with the new Italian.

"Oh yeah, so who's your scrawny new friend, by the way?" Jason asked Percy.

"He's called Nico and I think he's new here. I'll introduce you guys to him later if I see him. I'm gonna make friends with him. And he's not scrawny okay, I actually think he looks kinda cute, like in a 'cute like my little bro' kind of way."

"Here comes Percy and his 'everyone should be my friend' policy", said Jason, being sarcastic.

Percy was so engrossed in talking that he didn't see he was walking into.

*Omph*

Percy banged into Nico and the sound of books dropping on the floor echoed through the empty classroom corridor. Everyone was out in the cafeteria for lunch.

"I'm so sor−" Nico started, but stopped when he looked up and saw that it was Percy. He turned red.

"Oh hey, it's you! I was about to look for you. Wanna join us for lunch?" asked Percy, gesturing towards his three friends.

"Er, no thanks.. I'm.. Kinda busy.." Nico muttered.

"Awwww with what? It's lunch break! Cut yourself some slack, it's the first day of school!" Percy exclaimed.

"I have things to do alright?" Nico was beginning to flare up. He hated it when strangers tried to talk to him, or force him to talk to them.

_He's not a stranger, he's your new eyecandy, _said a nagging voice in his head.

_Shut up. _Nico told the voice.

"I'll see you around," said Nico to Percy.

With that, he walked off towards the other end of the corridor, away from the cafeteria.

"What crawled into his pants and died? He looks so angry," said Jason.

Percy stared at Nico's silhouette that was growing smaller with each passing second until he disappeared at the corner. He wasn't used to people being unfriendly towards him. So far, in this school, everyone was nice and all smiley to him. He didn't like it, knowing that there was someone who didn't seem to want to be his friend. Percy could see that Nico didn't like to mix around with people. All the more he was determined to change that.

_I'll be his best friend, whether he likes it or not,_ thought Percy naively.

Percy had a kind heart, one that was pure. If only he knew what kinds of trouble his heart would get him into later on…

§

School had finally ended for the day and all Nico decided to head home.

"Hey mom," he called out as he entered the house through the front door. "I'll be in my room okay?"

Nico walked up to his room and threw his bag on the floor. He took a long bath, and when he came out from the bathroom, he took out his diary and a pen, plopped himself on the bed and started to write.

**_September 1st_**

_Dear diary,_

_What was I thinking today? How can I be so shallow? I don't even know the guy. Telling myself he's just nice to look at is no excuse…_

_Percy asked me to join him for lunch today. Does that mean he wants to be my friend?_

_No but he can't. I can't. I'll screw it up. He'll realize what I am and he'll be disgusted. It'll just be history repeating is goddamn self. He'll freak out, call me a fag and then the whole school will know what I am. _

_What the fuck should I do?_

_Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to befriend him. At least I'll get to see him. Maybe I can keep my attraction in check and not act all weird in front of him… I could do with a friend…_

Nico put his diary and closed his eyes. He was still hurt from what happened three years ago, and he certainly did not want the same thing to repeat itself. But how was Nico ever going to get around in school without wanting to bang Percy half the time? If this was any indication of how the rest of the school semester was going to be, he was so, so screwed.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey guys! Hoped you liked this chapter! Got the chapter ending idea from greenconverses from one of the story I read a long while ago. I have been really busy with exam preparations and what not and I so shouldn't be writing this but I really can't stop myself.

Okay, so right now, Nico's attracted to Percy, everyone can see that, but Percy, being the friendly geek he is, wants to befriend poor Nico, who can't keep his feelings in place. The next part of the story will about their growing friendship. Then romance later. But I promise, PROMISE, that there will be romance. Nico and Percy will have their moments, and their ups and downs, but they'll get together. But I need time to build it up yeah? Which will be after my exams... I'll try my best to update again within the next week or so, so do stick with me please? **Do review!** :)

***UPDATE #1*** So someone has suggested that Nico should be 14 years old in the story~ Anyone else feel the same way? Do tell me, and I'll change the age! :)

***UPDATE #2*** Ahhhh some nice guest, uhm, 2Sly4You, just informed me of another horrible mistake I made in my writing. Dyslexia, not ADHD. Oops.. It's been corrected though so thanks 2Sly4You :).

c.


	3. Swordplay or Foreplay?

***NOTE* THIS FIC WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED 'BRAVE THROUGH HELL AND THE SEAS, FOR TRUE LOVE NEVER COMES EASY'. I HAVE CHANGED THE FIC NAME TO A SHORTER ONE! SORRY FOR ANY CONFUSION CAUSED.**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Percy Jackson characters but all hail Rick Riordon who created the awesomeness that is Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo. If I did, I wouldn't have to curl up in my sock drawer and sob every night.

**A/N: **Hi guys, I am back with chapter 3! Four of my papers are finally over and I have a three day break before my next paper. Anyway, this chapter is really just a build up of the plot. But don't worry! They'll get together soon. And if anyone has a suggestion on how they want the relationship to unfold, do PM me. I'll be happy to hear about it! I haven't quite decided how things should play out after Nico and Percy's friendship blossoms. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and reviews are greatly appreciated!

If there are any errors in the writing, grammar mistakes, typos and what not, do drop me a PM or review to tell me about it!

Also, a very big thank you for all those who have took time to read the last two chapters, followed and faved, and thank you acirejacksonmellark57, xoxodenisee , MissVoiceLess, wallflowerszxc, Nutrire, Bacon Powder, ZoloxLuffy, FallenxLinkin and Haruna Galaxy de Yuy for reviewing! :) Have somemore cookies (::) (::).

Enjoy the chapter and hopefully, I haven't disappointed anyone with my mediocre writing.

* * *

**_{True love doesn't comes easy. It's a walk through hell and the seas.}_**

**Chapter 3: Swordplay or Foreplay?**

_"Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you." _− Loretta Young

§

_No classes today,_ he thought.

Nico lay in bed and yawned. He didn't want to get out of bed. It was too early.

Persephone came into his room and opened the blinds.

Nico hissed. He was a night person. He preferred the dark. Sometimes he wished he could go deep down underground and hide for a while. That way, he'd never have to face anyone.

"C'mon dear, it's school tryouts today! Pick a nice activity and make some friends okay?" Persephone said as she tried to coax her step-son out of bed.

§

Nico begrudgingly trudged along the road leading up to his school. He was very reluctant to turn up for school today. It was the school activities' tryouts. All the schools' clubs and sports teams were going to be holding exhibitions, games and performances for the new students. All new students had to pick at least one after school activity to join. There were no classes today. Just the tryouts.

There were going to be a lot of talking and introducing and getting to know one another today. That meant that there was a high chance Nico would bump into Percy today. The guy was captain of the swim team. He'd definitely be at the tryouts, performing and assessing the new students.

Part of Nico wanted to run to the pool so badly, to see Percy in his swimwear again, to let his eyes glaze over Percy's well-toned body…

Nico shook his head. He had to stop his thoughts from running wild.

This was why he didn't want to go to school. He didn't want a repeat of yesterday's episode. Bumping into Percy and acting like an awkward geek.

Nico entered the school grounds and even from afar, there was no mistake who it was that was walking in his direction.

Percy and his group of friends were walking, talking and laughing, and they were heading towards Nico. Nico stoned for a second, and Percy caught his eye. Percy waved to him, but Nico turned and quickly walked off in the other direction into the school building.

Fate was being really cruel to him lately. How many times had he bumped into Percy in school? Every time he hoped that he wouldn't see Percy, he did.

Percy, however, continued to wave stupidly.

"You can put your arm down now, he's gone," said Grover to Percy who was looking crestfallen.

"What was that about?" asked Jason. "You offended the guy?"

"What? I haven't said two sentences to him," Percy said, still shocked at how Nico had totally ignored him.

"Maybe he has a crush on you, that's why he's ignoring you," said Grover thoughtfully, biting on his chilli cheese dog. It was his second one that morning.

"You have got to be joking," said Percy, thoroughly amused at how his friend could even make such a statement.

"Just because I don't have a girlfriend, doesn't mean I attract gays okay. And Nico's not gay. He's probably just…" Percy struggled to find a word.

"Unfriendly? Distant? Cold? A bastard?" suggested Jason.

"I was going to say shy," said Percy, staring at his friend. "Don't be such a dick."

"Alright alright! Relax," replied Jason, putting his hands up and surrendering. "I'll stop bitching about your new fascination. Hurry up and make friends with him will you? It'll end our torture. I can't live another day hearing you complain about how Nico doesn't even want to talk to you.

Percy snorted. "Just wait. I'll have him wrapped around my finger after today."

Percy smiled. He was going to befriend the black-haired, dark-eyed Italian today, whether the younger boy liked it or not.

Then his attention turned back to his friends.

"Exactly how many hotdogs have you had so far?" Percy asked Grover.

"It's only my second one! Stop chiding me. I need my energy. I have to run during the school tryouts later," came Grover's response.

"Yeah we'd better get back to school and prepare for the tryouts. I hope we get new faces today. I could do with some change," Jason said, thinking back to last year's tryouts.

The swim team had only gotten one new comer last year, and he wasn't very good. They needed better people who could keep the standard up. Percy and him were leaving the school this year, and they didn't want the team's standard to drop. On top of finding new faces, they also had to worry about electing a new captain for the team. He sighed. He'll worry about that later. This was their last year in the school and they _were_ going to win the state championship again.

Percy stared into space in deep thought. "Hmm, do you think Nico's good at anything? We could get him to join the swim team!" he said excitedly.

"The boy's got no chance. He looks tiny," Jason said. "And he doesn't have a swimmer's build," he added.

"Right, you guys can continue talking. I'll catch up with you guys later. I just remembered that I have to meet up with Frank, Clarisse and Reyna to discuss the relay we're gonna be doing later at the tryouts. Gotta impress the kids y'know? Then they'll join the track and field team," said Grover smugly.

"Hey, watch it, don't steal potential swimmers and coerce them into joining your team," Jason said, and punched his friend on the arm playfully.

"We'll see," laughed Grover as he left his friends.

"Alright, let's start with a couple of laps shall we?" said Percy to Jason. "And then maybe we can consider doing synchronized diving just for the fun of it."

Jason laughed and nodded.

§

Nico walked around the campus grounds, taking a look at all the different types of clubs and teams the school had to offer. Well, not look, peered. Nico didn't even want to walk too close to the booths, in case some crazy, hyper and overenthusiastic senior came up to him, grabbed his arm and demanded that he sign up for the activity.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to join anything just yet. Nothing interesting had caught his attention. He continued to walk around, rejecting anyone who came up to him and offered him pamphlets, or sweets.

_Gardening? Nahh… That's grandma's thing_, thought Nico.

He continued to walk down the row of booths.

_Band.._ The windows would shatter if he so much as went near an instrument.

"Hey, come and join the art club!" said someone Nico didn't recognize.

Nico snickered and walked off quickly. Art was so not his thing.

He spent the next half hour walking around looking at all the clubs the school had. He didn't know what else to do. It was still early, but he wanted to go home. It was getting pretty boring, not having friends. Everyone seemed quite happy in this school. He hadn't witnessed any bullying just yet. Maybe the people in this school were nice.

Just as he was lost in his thoughts, he heard a two girls whispering excitedly.

"Hey, the swim team is starting in another five minutes. I heard they're gonna be doing synchronized diving just for today," said a girl.

"Oh my gods. Okay we have to go now. Percy Jackson. He is so cute," said another.

"What? You mean Jason? He's the hot one," said the first girl.

The second girl laughed. "Too bad, he's taken. You wouldn't want to step on Reyna's toes. That girl can be aggressive."

Standing there, Nico couldn't help but overhear their conversation. So the guy who was hanging out with Percy yesterday was Jason.

_Oh what the hell_, he thought. _No harm in just taking a quick look._ Maybe he'd find something interesting. Persephone would kick his ass and send him back to school anyway, if he dared to show up at the house doorstep at this time.

Nico followed the two girls to the school's sports ground, a separate area from the school's main building. It was huge. He hadn't been to this part of the school before. There was an indoor swimming pool, and a huge track. Over to the right there was another smaller building with glass walls. Inside, he saw rows of arrows and bows, and boards of target practices. Archers were loading up their bows and preparing to shot. The mass of people inside were clapping and cheering.

_That must be where Hazel and Bianca practice,_ said Nico in his head.

He continued to follow the two girls closely behind, who turned and walked into the indoor pool.

It was filled with a massive amount of people.

_Wow. They're popular._

He looked up and saw Percy and Jason standing on the highest diving board, right at the top of the pool, with the rest of the time at the bottom in the pool. They were going to dive. Everyone else was paying close attention to the whole diving scene, but all Nico could think about was Percy.

He was wearing nothing but his swimwear.

Nico could see his smooth, pale skin glow under the bright lights of the indoor stadium. His legs, long, slim and tender, bending, getting ready to spring him for the dive…

Someone knocked into Nico, shattering his daydream.

"Oi," he started, but decided that it was probably good that he had gotten a wakeup call. He had to get out of here before he started drooling.

Percy and Jason, at the top however, spotted Nico. They had such a clear view from up there.

"Hey, look it's your friend," grinned Jason, pointing down to where Nico was.

"Really?" asked Percy, peering down below.

"Huh. It _is_ him. I'll get him to sign up for tryouts once we jump," said Percy, laughing.

*SPLASH*

Everyone clapped and cheered. Newcomers eagerly signed up for the afternoon tryouts. Good or bad, everyone wanted to join the swim team. it was the most popular team in school, not to mention with two of the best looking dudes on the team.

Nico had no intention of joining the swim team. He couldn't really swim. He was about to make his way out of the indoor swimming complex when he felt a wet hand grab his shoulder. He freezed, not daring to turn and see who he was.

"Hey!" said Percy, confirming Nico's fear.

Nico turned around slowly and faced Percy.

"Uhm, hey," Nico swallowed.

"So what you do think of swimming? Are you gonna sign up for the tryouts in the afternoon?"

"Er, no.. I don't do swimming. But your dive was really good," Nico said, complimenting Percy. He wanted to get away from Percy before he started blushing again.

"Oh, that's too bad. Maybe you'll find another sport you like," said Percy, genuinely looking sad that Nico couldn't join the swim team.

"Do you want to join us for lunch today?" Percy asked again.

"No, it's okay, I'm busy.." came Nico's response.

"Aww come on. There're no classes today," Percy said, trying to persuade the Italian to join him and his friends for lunch. He tightened his grip on Nico's shoulders as he spoke.

"I'm busy okay?" Nico repeated, anger rising.

Percy ignored Nico's words, grabbed his arm and tried to drag him over to his friends.

Nico got angry for real. "Leave me alone would you? Why do you want to have lunch with me so badly?" he shouted at Percy.

Shocked, Percy immediately let go of the younger boy's arm.

"I'm sorry.." Percy apologized. "I didn't mean to-"

"Nevermind, I'll see you around.." muttered Nico.

And with that, he quickly made his way out of the indoor swimming complex.

_Fuck,_ he thought. I just shouted at him. _He's going to think I'm crazy._

Nico sighed. Maybe he should go find his sisters and watch them shoot.

As he walked towards the archery building, he saw another group of people, though smaller, crowding around a stable. He saw horses, and a glint of steel and bronze under the sunlight. Swordfighting?

Nico went up to the group, and he saw two blonde haired boys fighting with a sword. He stood there and watched their swordplay. It was so good. The taller blonde had very good sword fighting skills. He was so engrossed in their performance that he didn't realize they had finished and everyone else had already left.

"Hey, you want to join?" asked the taller blonde. "You look pretty cool."

He stuck his hand out and offered Nico a handshake, which Nico accepted.

"My name's Luke, by the way. I'm uh, the captain of this club," he introduced himself, shaking Nico's hand.

"Nico," he replied.

"Di Angelo?" Luke asked.

"Yes, my dad is Hades…" Nico muttered.

"Hey, relax, I wasn't going to go there," Luke laughed.

"Anyway, this sport, it's not very popular, as you can see. Not a lot of people have experience in sword fighting and horseback riding. It's pretty dangerous too. There have been accidents in the past. A senior, Ethan Nakamura? He lost one of his eyes during a competition. The opponent played dirty and stabbed him in the eye. After that incident the school cancelled all competitions. We only compete in friendly matches now. The club's really just for you to join if you're interested. We have the equipment and the horses, so if you join, you're free to practice whenever you like."

Luke gestured towards all the equipment around the stable, and the three horses. There were rows and rows of different lengths of swords. Short and long ones, all made of different types of material. Gold, silver, bronze, steel, iron... And there were three horses, grazing beside their stables. The big black one stood out and Nico was drawn to it.

"Its name is Blackjack, if that's who you're looking at," came Luke, who noticed that Nico was staring intently at everything around him.

"He doesn't belong to the school though. It belongs to one of the students here."

In any case, Nico liked the sound of that. He liked sword fighting. His father had taken him for fencing lessons when he was younger, and then when Nico got a little older, his father introduced him to swordplay and had given him a sword. A real sword of his own. It was short, and made of stygian iron. Nico had always enjoyed swordplay.

"Sign me up," grinned Nico. _What the heck,_ he thought,_ it's just for fun. I won't have to go for many competitions anyway and I don't have to see Percy._

Luke grinned back. "See you at the tryouts after lunch."

Nico smiled. He felt pleased that he had found something that he liked about this school, and that he met someone friendly. Luke seemed nice. Better than Percy who for some reason kept bugging Nico to join him for lunch. What _was_ his problem?

§

"Hey, great job Percy!"

"Yeah the dive was awesome! You guys are way cool."

"Will we learn that if we're on the swim team?"

Questions after questions were asked. Percy smiled and tried to answer everyone's queries, but his heart wasn't into swimming now. Nico just shouted him, all because he tried to befriend the guy and ask him to join him and his friends for lunch.

_Maybe I was being too aggressive… _Percy thought.

All he wanted was to befriend the guy. Okay, maybe it's a little nutty.. He barely knew the boy and he was going up to him and force-befriending him. It was no wonder Nico got scared.

Percy had done a little research the night before, on the image of the skull ring that Nico was wearing. '_Hades' Caskets'._ _Largest funeral company in the state. _No wonder it had seemed familiar. He had then found out who Nico was, who his father was, and how his mother had died when he was younger, and how his father remarried another woman. He had learnt about Nico's background in less than 10 minutes. Gotta love the internet.

But it sounded a lot like his life in the past, which made Percy think back to his childhood, filled wit unhappy and forsaken memories that Percy would usually like to store at the back of his head, and pretend that they didn't exist.

His father, Poseidon, left when he was younger, and his mother, Sally, moved in with Gabe, who had brought nothing but misery to all of Percy's childhood, causing him to be a troubled delinquent for his entire elementary school life. When his mother finally kicked Gabe out of the house and married Paul, who brought two of his other kids from his first marriage, the twin toddlers, Ella and Tyson, along with him, it had brought so much happiness into Percy's life. He couldn't remember the last time he felt that he had a home, and family members who loved him as much as he loved them.

So when Percy started high school, he decided that enough was enough. No more moping around and being the anti-social freak who got picked on and tossed around like trash. He started working out. He joined school clubs and befriended everyone. And when he started school at Jupiter Olympus High, he joined the swim team. It became his life policy to be nice to everyone, befriend everyone. He didn't want to feel alone again. He understood how Nico must feel, being alone all the time, and it didn't help that it was clear the dark, brooding boy wasn't going to open up to anyone anytime soon.

Percy really wanted to apologize for his extreme behaviour of trying to drag Nico to meet his friends, but he didn't know where to find him.

§

It was break now. Everyone was going to have lunch before coming back for the actual tryouts. Percy decided to visit the stables and his horse, blackjack. Before his family moved to New York, he had owned a horse. But living in a high rise apartment, they had nowhere to keep the horse. That was why Percy ended up in this school, in order to find a home for his beloved horse. The school had so kindly agreed to let Blackjack stay in the school stables. So Blackjack stayed in the school stables most of the time, with the swordfighting and horse riding group occasionally taking him out for rides in the school's riding ground. That was all the horse could do. The school was only a little outside the city. There wasn't much space outside. If Blackjack wanted to get out and run, they'd have to get a delivery truck to ship him out.

Most of them knew that Percy owned the horse and no one really dared to go near it. Blackjack can be a little aggressive at times, kicking strangers who he didn't like.

*Neigheheheh*

"Hello, Blackjack, haven't seen you in awhile," said Percy.

His magnificent black horse whined in response.

"Alright, I have sugar cubes in my pocket."

Percy could almost hear Blackjack saying, "thanks boss," through his whines and nuzzles. Percy loved his horse so much.

Porkpie and Tempest, the two other school horses neighed and dragged their front hooves across the ground.

"Hey, I've got cubes for everyone okay," laughed Percy, as he fed the horses more sugar cubes.

Percy didn't know why, but he felt a connection to horses. He loved to be around them, and he loved riding them. They looked so carefree when they ran in the wind, weightless and burdenless − the kind of life Percy wished he had.

Percy continued talking and petting his horse, unaware that Nico was walking towards the stable.

Nico had taken his lunch, and decided to go back to the stables and practice swordfighting. Well, sure, he probably didn't need much experience to join this team, since it was really more of an interest group now. But swordplay was one thing that Nico kind of took pride in, and he didn't want to look stupid in front of Luke. _Why do you even care?_ a voice in his head asked. _Shut up, I haven't touched this sport in ages, _he told the voice.

As Nico walked up to the stables, he saw Percy before he arrived. He stopped in his tracks.

_Shit._

One of the horses whined. Tempest? He couldn't remember their names. Luke had introduced the horses to him before.

Percy turned around when the horses started making noise, and he saw Nico there. Before the younger boy had a chance to turn around and walk off, Percy shouted.

"Hey, wait up!" he called.

"I'm sorry for earlier," he said apologetically. "I don't mean to scare you or anything. I just want to be your friend."

Nico couldn't stand it anymore.

"Yeah and why is that? You don't even know me," he retorted. "And why are you even here, feeding the horses?"

"Oh, I own Blackjack," Percy said, answering Nico's second question.

"If you're not going to answer me, then you can jolly well back the fuck off," said Nico sharply to Percy. "And stop harassing me."

"Look, I know your family background. I was like you, always alone and moody. That's why I befriend everyone," said Percy quickly, in case Nico clawed his face off. The younger boy looked so mad that Percy was beginning to feel really bad for scaring him earlier today.

Nico stared at Percy and blinked. Huh. It was such a simple explanation that Nico couldn't bring himself to believe it.

_What were you expecting, you moron. Did you think he wanted to befriend you because he likes you in that way?_

The voice in Nico's head wouldn't stop talking.

He didn't know whether to feel sad, angry or happy. His hardened expression softened and Nico heaved a long sigh.

"Alright, I'll join you for lunch tomorrow okay? You can introduce me to your other friends," he said to Percy.

"And yeah, you're right. I'm not good with people.. I usually stick to myself…"

Percy grinned. "Really? Awesome. We'll see you at lunch tomorrow then.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Percy asked, curious to know why Nico was at the school's stables.

Nico explained how he was planning to join the swordfighting club.

"Hmmm. You want to practice? I can be your partner now. Tryouts hasn't started," Percy offered.

"You sure you're up for it? Why don't you go back to your pool?" Nico teased.

"Oh okay you're done for it," said Percy laughing. "I took swordfighting classes when I was younger, for you information. I'm quite good at it, though not as good as Luke."

He picked up a sword, Riptide, from the racks beside the stable and the two started swordfighting.

Lost in their play, the pair didn't notice Luke walking up towards them from behind. Nico saw Luke first and stopped mid-action, causing Percy to fall right on top of him as he was charging towards the boy. Nico fell flat on his back, with Percy right on top of him, pressing against his groin. Nico felt a shudder run through his body and he flushed as he felt Percy's bare skin against his thigh. Their faces were almost touching, and Nico stared into Percy's eyes. The bright green emeralds back stared into his black ones. His heart was pumping madly against his chest and he was almost certain that Percy could feel is maddened pulse rate, going haywire this very minute.

Percy felt that electric shot jolt through his body too. He turned red, immediately jumped off Nico and apologized.

"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" He pulled Nico up to his feet, looking a little embarrassed himself. If his head had moved an inch closer he would have kissed the poor guy and freak him out completely.

Percy turned to Luke who was staring at the whole scene.

"Hey, Luke, sorry about that," Percy said, grinning at him.

"Hello, Percy, not here to steal my boy are you?" laughed Luke.

Percy smiled. "No, not at all, we were just practicing."

"Well, see you tomorrow, Nico," Percy said, as he waved and smile, leaving Nico to Luke.

Nico stood there, dumbfounded. Okay, so one, he had just befriended the cutest guy at school, and two, he had almost kissed him, by accident. How was he ever going to keep his attraction in check? The tingling feeling down south had not subsided. Keep this up and he might be stuck with a permanent boner.

"You like him, don't you?" asked Luke, interrupting Nico's thoughts.

Horrified and shocked, Nico turned and faced Luke.

"What?" he said, stiffening up._ How could he know?_

"Your pupils. They dilated when he stared into your eyes," Luke explained. "And being gay myself means I have an _awesome_ gay radar."

_Fuck._ This wasn't what Nico expected.

"You can't tell anyone, promise me you won't," Nico pleaded.

"Closet gay? Don't worry I won't tell. I'm your friend," Luke smiled reassuringly. "Relax alright? Just hang out with Percy. Who knows what might happen," he said, winking at Nico.

Nico felt the tension in his body leave and his shoulders relaxed.

"Thanks," he said with gratitude.

A couple more people came over the stables, ready for the tryouts.

"Alright," Luke said, clapping his hands, "let's get started with the tryouts!"

He picked up a sword and threw it towards Nico, who caught it.

Nico laughed. "I'll bring my own sword tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N:** OKAY SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? Thanks for the very long wait guys! I've been soooo busy the last one week. This chapter was originally supposed to be split into two chapters, but I got carried away when writing. So Nico made two new friends! *Claps* And he's a lot less antisocial around Luke. Oh and Luke's not going to be evil in this story. But he's gay though. Feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated! If anyone wants anything in particular to happen between Nico and Percy, or Nico and Luke, do leave a review to tell me! If anyone disagrees with Luke being gay, do tell me too! Just drop me a review or PM me or something. I'm open to all suggestions! :)

Sometimes it's so amusing to read the A/N at the start of the story and at the end. They always say different things. Funny, how my thoughts change as I write the story. I don't usually write what I plan to write when I start the chapter. Well, it almost follows the plan, but the characters in my head do stupid things so I end up writing about it.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter teehee. :)

***UPDATE #1*** The scenes towards the end were a little disconnected so I made some changes to them.

c.


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